New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1887-11-30
GOVERNMENT RED TAPE:
,scovsRlEs BY SENATOR COCKRELL.
r,xLocU ION METHODS IN THE DEPARTMENTS
-uRGgNT NEED or COMMON SENSE
-.v TELEGRAPH TO THE rRIBUsE

,uocu ION METHODS IN THE DEPARTMENTS
oS'~rsGgNT NEED or COMMON SENSE
ar TELEGRAPH THE rRIBuSEl
LEXINGTON, Nov .a-Senator oocN""' VINO a. '"o
..n Of a committee directed to report upon 'ho
s~" ot the Government, Departments ana SUGGEST
b"s, ar H., improvement. has 0eeu In washington
p0".r thinks that what tho public service
~ =, ,,nuiove II Is not LEGISLATION Out 'ho apply"
." lille common sense. lie hnd7 'ha' INC sSs
poh VI ~ IN n;o,t If the departments Is the same
rh !" ,l when the Government was nrst or
W. and WI continue until an earthquake
pn ,h,,es rp. Each head OF bureau thinAs lc
'' Al A. his predecessor did, and inc oiu c'erhs
evsd iu their reverence for uadi'iohs aS p"u"-
o. r,r example all official letters are caiciu'Y
into book, by clerks, just as they were before
coy" osses wcro Invented, thus requiring hear'y
guy, ,o number of clerks In each DIVISION half OF
W." " ~, copvnc what the other han write Again
"'on' nc,arment where there are hundreds OF
ID ,r,n, tho muster rolls OF the Army In tho
GUN. Cor The benefit Of The Pension Oiico four
- many clerks required 70 10 the WORK rs
nnies d, ". 49, coss were ordinary business methods
go The muster Dls are al ued UP Ill PACK
= and filed In cases. Whch i0''ei eo"'0S !" "'N
ae0 a., eng,h Of service oiJohn Doc VI the Isl New
-, recment of Volunteers inc cielh JANUS "o"h
TIN packages, unfolds each paper QUO "o "''o"0
VI. =. snds the regiment and the company 10 which
u''''' ~ ,.,ones which. take, him an hour or two.
' o,,ch, IN do II In two minutes. Mr.. Cockreh
,ho seusble way would lie TO bind these muster
~rs in covers spread out fiat, each regiment ia Its
On ever then file tho books away by states, give
III clek one or States, and then when information
.,ou John Doe is called for ii can be obtained in
',,tv BY looking al the book containing the muster
- l. n his regiment. With such system the Senator
,,,. that ono clerk could do much rs twenty are
.oins now He wonders why some one in the Depart
nmt Gas not thought OF It before.
Another funny thing he discovered In the Paymaster
o.n.,.rs office When the second Auditor is settling
nay account no Gals upon the Pay master General for
the report OF the paymaser belonging TO the brigade
or regiment to which the claimant belonged. I" was
shawn the record, from which this information OBJ
tanned and noticed that hey were copies" said the
senator 81 asked WI here the original records wer
and no one seemed ~ know. 1 determined To hunt
,tem up and kept at it TIL did. And where do YOU
wsposo | found them In the Office Of the Second
Auditor. vino every day was writing dozens of letters
10 the PA General for copies of copies 10
reprd the original of which under his very noe.
Md YOU ever hear Of such folly and such waste oi
tine and money
some system ought to be DEVISED continued
The Senator, for clearing the records OF the Depart
nent Of INDUSTRIOUS amount of old cases that nave
accumulated since tho beginning of time There are
nousands and thousands of unsettled accounts In the
ireasuIy Department covering hundreds OF thousands
q pages Of paper which amount to less than Is eA-
pended every year in keeping track of them Here Is
, man who owes The Government 10 cents, some
,ror of addition or sui traction perhaps, and he Is
sssd and buried long ago. but his account with tie
Government Ike TcnnysOn's brook, goes on for ever
I'D tie taxpayers have to pay clerks TO look after
T. More money has already been wasted In Keeping
ysk of these things than the Government VIII ever
RI from them AID they ought TO be wiped on the
h6ks. But abo@t once a NcaI some CLERK Wr'ies
tier TO the former Official the Government
IS cents The letter must be copied upon the hooks
4 the Department and il has to be Endorsed and so
Trough dozen different processes till it finally
caches mail bag and Is carried 70 the place where the
nsn once lived, hut whore the people have now for
yotten him. 1t Les In the post Office for thirty days
md then it returned To the Department. whore the
I'd tape has be unrOlied again. and the clerks have
o spcLd an hour or in making record of The fact
hat the letter has been returned uncallcd for The
seu year the process is repeated again. and he Gov
rnncnt Hil continue to write 10 that dead man TIL
be end of Zine, 'ppCse
~Tlen there Is another class OF accounts, damages
iue 10 old soldiers for horses furnished the service
These ought to be advertised for thirty days IN me
paper nearest the town where the creditor al The
Government lived. and then. II no one appears 10
nor i ,his truo Of the Treasury acne. II is
lst a bad in the Land Office | found claims there
tom my own State that have been pending -nce
sse them. and If the party Interested cannot prove
s title. declare the land public domain. Most OF
hem rest upon mere technicsliics or mistakes. For
yamp'e fonnd a in which great In Just ce had
cen done a who was. no doubt, an honest and
zorthv citizen His appeared upon all the
papers that he signed : plainly could ne written.
10 na-s.' hut thu Clerk IN making up the record and
.ndorsnC the packet. spelled IL. Jones'. 50 II
Dp"arc1 upon the hooks and the man, of course
eouh nGN obtain fi'Ie 10 his properly suppose IT
vould have remained TIL The Dav OF judgment
lad the error not been accidentally discovered. for
Mr. Jonas. with his little so acres OF land had no
reans 70 paw LAWYER to come 10 Washington and
49, lfo ri ai
ave don't need lcctslat ion repeated the Senator.
30 much ordinary every day common sense"